In a sign of the increasing maturity of Bombardier’s CSeries airliner, the first test aircraft for the stretched, 135-seat CS300 variant flew for about 5 hours on its first flight from Mirabel, near Montreal, on Feb. 27....More

Why NASA needs an Asteroid Deflection Technology Development program, rather than an Asteroid Redirect Mission....More

Aviation Week & Space Technology

In an uncertain business environment, there are nonetheless several helicopters and a commercial tiltrotor in development. Bell Helicopter has returned to the light single-turbine market it once dominated with the Model 206 JetRanger and is developing the five-seat Model 505 Jet Ranger X, seen here in flight test near Montreal, with certification expected by year-end. Bell Helicopter photograph by Pierre Seager. Also in this issue are reports on flight tracking, Japan’s defense exports and the Single European Sky.

The general feeling among many of China’s naval neighbors and in U.S. military circles is that China has been turning into a bit of a bully in (re)staking territorial claims in the seas off its coasts....More

Former Editor-in-Chief Dave North wrote pilot reports on more than 120 aircraft during his career at Aviation Week. His visits to Embraer began in 1978, long before the Brazilian company’s privatization and emergence as a powerhouse in regional jets. Here, he recalls his Embraer experiences, culminating in a test flight of the E170....More